Inside The NBA

COURTING DISASTERIn a playoff-opening loss, the Raptors had to cope witha bizarre lawsuit and awful shooting

Raptors forward Vince Carter sat facing a sea of microphones andnotepads in the wake of Sunday's 92-88 road loss to the Knicksin the opener of their first-round playoff series. Which odditywould he like to address first? Why had he missed his first 12shots, or why had Toronto coach Butch Carter tossed an air ballof his own two days before by filing a defamation suit againstformer Raptors and current Knicks forward Marcus Camby?

Taking the easier question, Carter said his shooting woes werecaused by Latrell Sprewell's defense and by his having become "alittle overexcited." But even if Vince had buried 12 straight, hewouldn't have stolen the headlines from his coach. When asked onApril 19 by the New York Daily News about critical comments Butchhad made while coaching him in Toronto, Camby said Butch had toldhim he would be part of the Raptors' foundation; the team tradedhim a few days later. Camby called Carter "a liar" and claimednone of the Toronto players liked their coach.

While Camby was at practice last Friday, his girlfriend wasserved with the lawsuit at Camby's Larchmont, N.Y., house. Thesuit demanded $5 million in damages. The following afternoonCarter said he would consider dropping the suit if Cambyapologized.

When New York coach Jeff Van Gundy informed the Knicks about thelawsuit last Saturday, the players burst out laughing. NBAdeputy commissioner Russ Granik wasn't amused. His statementread, "A coach suing a player over his public comments seemsunprecedented and highly inappropriate." Toronto general managerGlen Grunwald, who signed Carter to a four-year, $8 millionextension in December, said with a pained look, "I'm just notgoing to comment right now." Even Butch's brother Cris, aVikings receiver, was virtually at a loss for words. "What doyou want me to say?" Cris said. "He's my brother."

Carter's preposterous actions seemed to have little effect onhis young team. "It's like when you beat up your little brotherin the house. That's O.K.," said Toronto guard Dee Brown. "Butwhen your little brother goes out and someone else startsbeating up on him, well, now we've got a problem. We standbehind Butch on this. Have we had some things with our coach?Yeah, who hasn't? But we keep it within."

In mid-March, Carter publicly criticized Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment Ltd., which owns the Raptors and the eponymous NHLclub, for favoring its hockey team and neglecting its basketballteam. Carter was also in the news two weeks ago when excerptsfrom his upcoming book, Born to Believe, a collaboration withCris in which each brother wrote a dozen chapters withoutshowing his work to the other, claimed Indiana coach Bob Knighthad used racist language while chastising his players, a chargeKnight denied. (Butch played for Knight in the late 1970s buthas a strained relationship with him.)

Why did Carter look to the courts for justice in his disputewith Camby? Maybe it was psychological playoff warfare, as theKnicks suggested. Maybe it was a way to drum up interest in thebrothers' book. Or maybe it was, as Butch conceded, in part aploy to deflect pressure from his young stars, Vince, 23, andTracy McGrady, 20.

None of it had anything to do with why Vince hit only 3 of 20shots. The Knicks used two defensive schemes to smother him:They double-teamed him with Sprewell and Patrick Ewing, and theyshaded Carter to the right, knowing he's more effective when hegoes left. With Game 2 set for Wednesday, neither Carter wasbacking down--Vince on his promise to keep shooting, Butch onhis promise to keep suing. As for a Camby apology: Forget aboutit.

Draft DreamsGLOBAL SEARCH FOR 7-FOOTERS

This just in: There are no franchise big men in the NBAdraft--again. Chris Mihm, a junior from Texas, will certainly gohigh if he comes out, as will Minnesota sophomore JoelPrzybilla, but neither of them has front offices salivating. Soteams will gamble on international talent to fill the middle, asthe Knicks did last year with French center Frederic Weis. Thisseason's sleeper is 20-year-old Iakovos Tsakalidis, who justcompleted his fourth season with AEK Athens in the Greek League.

Tsakalidis is attractive because he is big and strong; a programfor the Greek championships listed him at 7'2", and he weighs219 pounds. He also has a huge wingspan and can run the floorfairly well, given his size. He averaged 9.4 points and 7.2rebounds for AEK in the regular season, which ended last month.

According to one NBA scout, however, Tsakalidis is "very, veryraw offensively." In other words, aside from a little jump hookthat he has been honing, he isn't going to dazzle Shaq with hislow-post moves, and his high-post game is close to nonexistent.The upside? Tsakalidis has good rebounding instincts and blocksshots well.

Questions remain about how long Tsakalidis's contract runs withAEK, but the consensus is that if he declares himself eligiblefor the June 28 draft (he has until May 14 to do so), he'll be amid- to late lottery pick. "That's where we have him," saysMagic general manager John Gabriel, who has three first-roundselections. "The best thing about him is his size, but ourscouts also like his aggressiveness. He knows how to play thegame, but to succeed on the next level, he'll have to be evenmore aggressive."

One thing is certain: Teams are more secretive than ever aboutinternational prospects. Nobody wants to tip his hand, which iswhy Celtics president and coach Rick Pitino secretly worked out7-foot Dirk Nowitzki, a German who has emerged as a star powerforward for the Mavericks, in Europe before the draft twoseasons ago. Bulls general manager Jerry Krause, who draftedToni Kukoc and Dragan Tarlac, both from Europe, and has threefirst-round choices in this year's draft, was recently asked toassess Tsakalidis. "I never comment on foreign players," saidKrause. "Do I know about him? Of course. We all do."

For the latest scores and stats, plus Phil Taylor's NBA mailbag,go to cnnsi.com/basketball.

After taking over as the Pistons' interim coach on March 6,George Irvine repeatedly said he had no interest in the jobbeyond this season. But now, after getting endorsements fromGrant Hill and other Detroit players, Irvine is leaning towardstaying, according to Pistons sources. Irvine, one of the NBA'snicest guys, has surprised the Detroit front office with hiswillingness to get tough. (Ask Jerry Stackhouse, who wasconfronted after one game for trying to do too much himself.)All this spells doom for former Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer, who washoping to land the Pistons job....

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The Suns aren't complaining about the NBA's ludicrous decisionto string out the playoffs' first round over two weeks. Theschedule might--just might--enable Jason Kidd to return from hisbroken left ankle at the end of Round 1.